Holy Martyr Aréthas and those with him;
St. Elesbaán, King of Ethiopia
Dunaan, a cruel Jewish persecutor of Christians, then governed Omir. Determined to eradicate all Christians from his land, he surrounded the Christian town of Nagran, and sent a message to the people saying he would put them all to death unless they renounced Christ. The citizens closed the gates, and Dunaan attacked the city wall for a long time without success. Then the iniquitous governor swore to the citizens that he would do nothing to them, if only they would open the gate for him to enter and receive the tribute that they owed him-and that he would take it and immediately withdraw. The Christians believed him and opened the gate. Then the oath-breaking Jew summoned the aged Aréthas, the clergy and other distinguished citizens and beheaded them all with the sword. He then perpetrated a horrible slaughter in the town. Learning of this, the Byzantine Emperor Justin was greatly grieved, and wrote a letter to the Ethiopian Emperor, Elesbaán, requesting him to set out with an army against Dunaan to avenge the innocent blood of the Christians. Elesbaán obeyed Justin, attacked the governor of Omir with his army, defeated him, slew his entire army, and beheaded him.
By a revelation from God, a certain devout man named Abramios was installed as governor of Omir, and again by God's revelation, St. Gregory of Omir (December 19) was installed as archbishop. Christians rebuilt the Church of the Holy Trinity in Nagran that Dunaan had burned, and also built a church to the Holy Martyr Aréthas and the other martyrs of Nagran. St. Aréthas and the others suffered and received martyr's wreaths from the Lord in the year 523.
Philippians 2:24-30
King James Version
24 But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
Saint Luke 11:9-13
King James Version
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
DISCOURSES OF ST DOROTHEOS OF GAZA
CONSCIENCE
Brothers, may we be zealous to guard our conscience as long as we are in this world and to not disregard its promptings in anything. And may we not trample it underfoot even in the smallest thing, for you can see that from the least things, which by their nature are accounted for little, we come to detest the greater things. When we start to say, "What is it if I say only these few words? What does it matter if I consume this morsel? What difference if I should look in here or there? From this manner of speaking, "What does this or that really matter?" a man takes harsh nourishment and starts to detest the greater and more weighty matters and even to tread them down in his own conscience and so, finally to destroy them, little by little. He falls into danger and finally is completely impervious to the light of the conscience.
So brother, see to it that we do not disregard small things. See to it that we do not detest them, treating them as nothing. There are no "small things," because when it is an issue of bad habits, it is really an issue of a malignant tumor. May we live with caution. May we take care to heed small matters when they are small for fear they become worse. Doing what is right and what is wrong, both start from trivial matters and progress to what is great, good or bad. So Our Lord warns us to listen to our conscience as one providing evidence of his own doings and saying, "Take heed fool, see what you are doing, agree with your adversary while you are still on the road." And he reveals the danger to be feared, "For fear he hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the executioner and he cast you into the innermost prison." And what more? "Amen, I say to you, he will not depart from there until he has paid the last penny." The conscience then forewarns us, as I said, as to what is good and what is evil and shows us what we should do and not do. For in the coming world it will indict us. So it says, "For fear he deliver you over to the judge..." While taking heed to our conscience, we must consider many different issues. A man must satisfy his conscience toward God, toward his neighbor, and toward material things. In terms of God, he must not detest God's laws, even those things which are not visible to men or those things for which one is not liable to others.
One should listen to his conscience in regard to God. For example, did he disregard his prayer? If a bad thought entered his heart, was he alert and did he maintain control over himself or did he entertain it? He regards his neighbor saying something or doing something. Does he think it evil and judge him? To lay it out plainly, all the concealed things that happen within us, things which are visible to God alone, and our conscience, we must regard. This is what I mean when I speak of the conscience to God. To regard our conscience with regard to our neighbor means not doing anything that we think will trouble or hurt our neighbor in deed, word, gesture or look. Because there are gestures, as I often tell you, which harm our neighbors and there are looks which can wound him and to speak openly, whatever a man does quickly, knowing it provides his neighbor a bad thought, pollutes his own conscience because it means that he is prepared to hurt or disturb his neighbor, and this is the type of thing I mean when I speak about maintaining a good conscience toward our neighbor.
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